My wife's father passed away from bladder cancer Saturday morning. He and his wife of 56 years lived in a mobile home here on our property. He was quite a guy: 77, healthy, slim and fit, and more energy than a teenager.
It started in December when he was having trouble urinating - he couldn't get a stream started. It backed up for 2 days and we took him to the ER. A couple of weeks later he had blood in his urine. Further exams showed he had a large (6cm) tumor in his bladder and a 5cm tumor in his liver.
He started chemotherapy, and we were relieved at the lack of side effects! No hair loss, no nothing, except for a couple of small mouth sores at first that were fixed with a special mouthwash. After 2 months, they did another CT scan. We were excited; he looked and felt healthy as a horse!
The chemo hadn't worked. His liver now had tumors the size of baseballs, and it had spread to his lungs, spine and lymph system. This can happen easily, as the chemo suppresses the body's immune system. Then when the chemo itself doesn't work, that leaves the cancer free to explode, which it did.
Last week he started becoming incoherent and confused, felt pain in all his joints, became deaf in one ear, was passing blood and many other symptoms. He was up all night Friday rambling and crawling to the bathroom. Finally about 4 or 5 a.m. he laid down. His wife woke up at 6 a.m. and thought he was unusually quiet. He was gone.
Thursday we'll bury him in a nice, shady spot under a stand of majestic oak trees in a quiet little country cemetery. He would like it there.
I mentioned "an important lesson." This all started 2 or 3 years ago when he started having trouble urinating. We'd be in HEB and he would need to go to the bathroom. It took him FOREVER. 10-15 minutes. An hour later, again. I kept asking him about it, and he played the "tough guy" .... "naaaawww, I'm fine, I'm OK, I'm OK, let's go, I'm OK..." End of conversation.
If he had checked it out back then, while the tumor was still 100% contained in his bladder, his survival chances would have been 95%. Instead, he kept doing the "I'm OK, I'm OK" thing, and now we're having his funeral.
So the lesson here is, if something in your body isn't working right, get it thorougly checked NOW. Don't play the tough guy, DON'T put it off and leave your wife a widow and your kids fatherless.
Thanks to you guys for being there. God bless you and take care of yourselves.
It started in December when he was having trouble urinating - he couldn't get a stream started. It backed up for 2 days and we took him to the ER. A couple of weeks later he had blood in his urine. Further exams showed he had a large (6cm) tumor in his bladder and a 5cm tumor in his liver.
He started chemotherapy, and we were relieved at the lack of side effects! No hair loss, no nothing, except for a couple of small mouth sores at first that were fixed with a special mouthwash. After 2 months, they did another CT scan. We were excited; he looked and felt healthy as a horse!
The chemo hadn't worked. His liver now had tumors the size of baseballs, and it had spread to his lungs, spine and lymph system. This can happen easily, as the chemo suppresses the body's immune system. Then when the chemo itself doesn't work, that leaves the cancer free to explode, which it did.
Last week he started becoming incoherent and confused, felt pain in all his joints, became deaf in one ear, was passing blood and many other symptoms. He was up all night Friday rambling and crawling to the bathroom. Finally about 4 or 5 a.m. he laid down. His wife woke up at 6 a.m. and thought he was unusually quiet. He was gone.
Thursday we'll bury him in a nice, shady spot under a stand of majestic oak trees in a quiet little country cemetery. He would like it there.
I mentioned "an important lesson." This all started 2 or 3 years ago when he started having trouble urinating. We'd be in HEB and he would need to go to the bathroom. It took him FOREVER. 10-15 minutes. An hour later, again. I kept asking him about it, and he played the "tough guy" .... "naaaawww, I'm fine, I'm OK, I'm OK, let's go, I'm OK..." End of conversation.
If he had checked it out back then, while the tumor was still 100% contained in his bladder, his survival chances would have been 95%. Instead, he kept doing the "I'm OK, I'm OK" thing, and now we're having his funeral.
So the lesson here is, if something in your body isn't working right, get it thorougly checked NOW. Don't play the tough guy, DON'T put it off and leave your wife a widow and your kids fatherless.
Thanks to you guys for being there. God bless you and take care of yourselves.
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